Considering most people who have praised Firefox for being open source have failed to also provide their operating system, it causes me to raise the question if they even understand open source or if they are just spouting useless reitteration someone else told them…
Like I posted earlier, I’m a FF user. Of course, I came across the new Netscape 9 today (which supports Firefox extensions).
I’m getting sold on it because it has a “Link Pad” feature. With projects, I typically bookmark pages that I actually would not keep or use in the future. Sometimes this can cause my bookmarks to get a little messy. This “Link Pad” feature is just for this type of thing. With the support for Firefox extensions and a couple other neat features (like the mini-browser side bar)… I might just be switching over.
I merely dislike the user interface.
I don’t use Opera as my primary browser becasue of the following:
- I use FF2 for all my development work, and lately, I’ve been doing development work just about EVERY time I’ve been at my computer…
- It took me forever to switch from IE to FF (because I"m resistant to change in my daily life…I’m already seeing a shrink…), and I don’t know if I"m ready to switch to Opera for my personal use.
That being said, I do LIKE opera, and as was stated before, Opera Mini is THE only worthwhile mobile browser. All others are pale imitations.
I only use it for testing the sites I create to make sure they work well in Opera, so why don´t I use it myself? Because a lot of sites don´t test it in Opera, and the designs fails, that´s why IE and Firefox are my main browsers.
I switched from Opera to FF after I started developing heavily. The only reason was because FF was more popular and it made more sense to design for FF first.
But I agree with what was said above. If a site’s been done right it’ll work in Opera without any tweaking. That’s what I love about it. Just wish it had a wider user-base.
Now I don’t want to switch browsers because all my passwords and settings are stored in FF for convenience.
I use Opera, but not all the time.
The main reason for this is probably 2 (two) firefox extensions
- FireBug
- Developer Toolbar.
I use the Opera developer console, but it doesn’t offer everything I need like Firebug does.
I use Opera, but my favorite one is FF, I just like the myriad of extensions and themes available and that helps both navigation and web development, I feel just very comfortable with it and it gives me the feeling it is highly customizable and that’s my very own browser!!
This been said Opera 9.2 is really cool too!
I’ve just been using Firefox for so long it’s actually hard to get used to another browser. Like for example, now in Firefox my address bar says “http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?t=483778&page=2”
now, if I click it, the whole address is highlighted so I can delete it if I want, BUT if I double click the address, the word or section I double click is highlighted. So, if I click the address bar, and then double click on “forums” only that is highlighted, so I can change just that bit.
In Opera, clicking on the address bar only seems to highlight the whole address rather than a portion of it.
Now I’m not trying to say omg this is terrible why can’t it be the same as Firefox, it’s just that I’m so used to how Firefox works - right down to tiny little details like these - that it’s just too much hassle to change. I’m sure Opera is a great browser but to be honest I’m not sure I can be bothered to try to get used to it. I would think there are quite a few people in the same boat.
2 reasons (sorry it’s not one :p).
H.T.H
Opera will give you that identical behavior too, but that’s OS GUI behavior, it should be the same in any browser.
That’s a very good point, and very true - every time I’ve reported an Opera bug it’s been fixed, or if not, I’ve had a good explanation for why not. Conversely, when I’ve reported mozilla bugs I’ve been either ignored, or my arguments pissily dismissed with sneers of “you don’t understand”
Well Opera is the best! The wand is the best tool there… however if we had a google toolbar for opera… then it would have ruled the online world.
You’ve reminded me of another awesome feature - configurable address bar searching.
So I can type “g search terms” to search google, but I’ve also configured “w” for wikipedia, “d” for dictionary.com, “p” for php.net, “a” for amazon, “f” for flickr, “i” for imdb …
And what about “paste and go” - so simple, yet so neat 
Yeah, that feature is great, just like the built-in BitTorrent. 
I use opera because
- its really fast
- The back button works instantaneously
- It renders just like Firefox for the most part, so any layout I do in Opera will usually look exactly the same as firefox.
- The magic wand feature (click a button to login to your favorite sites).
- Small memory footprint … I got tired of seeing FF take 200-300mb of my ram.
- you can search straight from the tool bar so something like “a PHP” will search Amazon.com for PHP books right from the url
At least the last time I checked Opera for Mac expected to run with the computer’s whole screen and looked funny smaller. This is totally unacceptable because I need to quickly switch between Code, FTP, and a Browser when doing web development.
The rendering is also a bit different the Firefox (I think?).
I use Opera for Mac, superuser2, and do not experience that problem? Opera behaves like every other window (well sorta, the green button … but that’s not Opera specific).
Firefox rendering is different because it is not as standards compliant. For the most part though it renders the same as Opera, considering you follow standards. Firefox supports a few non-standardised CSS3 selectors.
So I can type “g search terms” to search google, but I’ve also configured “w” for wikipedia, “d” for dictionary.com, “p” for php.net, “a” for amazon, “f” for flickr, “i” for imdb …
This is probably one of my favourite features. I have so many configured. Don’t forget y for youtube. 
Opera kommer från Norge också.
I user FF mainly and sometimes IE (for sites that don’t work well on FF).
Reason: I’m too conservative and don’t have the time/patience to download and get myself familiar with a new browser.
Because it’s retarded.
I have Opera installed, but don’t use it very often. Just when Firefox botches itself